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List of program schedule during our 2021-2022 season:
September 20, 2021
Vinnie Simeone, Great Gardens of the World
Since 1998 I have had the pleasure to travel to some of the most breathtaking gardens in the world. The countries visited include Canada, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. This lecture provides detailed information on a wide variety of unusual and exotic species of plants, picturesque views of natural and cultivated areas and helpful information on garden design and popular trends. Come along with me for a train ride through the Canadian Rockies, a hiking trip into the wild bush of New Zealand, a whale-watching expedition to Cape Town and a visit to a 15th-century abbey in jolly old England. Don’t miss this unique and inspiring journey around the globe!
October 18, 2021
Brent Heath – Best Bulbs for Sexy Southern Gardens
Brent Heath’s family has been growing bulbs since 1900 when his grandfather moved to eastern Virginia after falling in love with the Daffodil. Today, Brent stills loves daffodils, but his company, Brent and Becky’s Bulbs, offers much more! Their products include bulbs, seeds, perennials, plants, supplements, books and more. Brent and his wife Becky live and work on their 28-acre farm and gardens in Gloucester, VA where they work as flower bulb suppliers, garden writers, photographers, lecturers, consultants and educators.
Brent and Becky have also developed 8+ acres of educational gardens that show people how to utilize flower bulbs with annuals, perennials, trees and shrubs without spraying chemicals. They continue to work to create an educational foundation where school groups, Master Gardeners and the general public can learn to incorporate these practices in their own gardens.
Brent has been featured on, among other media outlets, the Martha Stewart Show.
“I’ve been a big fan of Brent and Becky’s Bulbs for many years,” Martha wrote in her Blog, Martha, Up Close and Personal. “You may recall seeing Becky and Brent on my television show. Brent actually made his debut … when he demonstrated how to force spring bulbs to flower early in containers.”
Brent will show you which bulbs outperform in the Southern garden in several seasons. After his talk, you’ll leave with information and inspiration to produce a garden that you, your neighbors and friends will enjoy all year.
November 15, 2021
Pam Beck (Wake Forest, NC), award-winning garden writer/photographer; “Change How You Garden”
Based in Raleigh, Pam co-authored the 2006 book, “Best Garden Plants for North Carolina.” She published articles in Carolina Gardener Magazine for 16 years and wrote a monthly gardening column for the Raleigh News & Observer for 5 years. Learn more about Pam here: https://www.pambeckgardens.com/
She was awarded the Silver Trowel Award for magazine writing in 2006 by the Garden Writer’s Association of America and was also a local garden scout and stylist for Better Homes & Gardens. Her nature and garden photography appear in various gardening magazines and books.
Pam has served on the Board of Advisors of the J C Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh, the Arboretum at Johnston Community College in Smithfield, and the Urban Forestry Board of Wake Forest.
December 6, 2021
Patty Smith – Winter Container Gardening with a Holiday Spin
Ring in the holidays with a fun and creative winter container garden demonstration by horticulturist Patty Smith, owner of Harrisburg Greenhouse & Nursery. Watch Patty build a handsome outdoor container as she shares tips on design, keeping greens fresh, and unique foliage ideas for a statement-making entry display. Then, bid on a container – the lucky winner will win a gorgeous holiday arrangement. Members only.
Patty Smith founded and owns Harrisburg Greenhouse & Nursery in Harrisburg, NC. She opened HG&N with a focus on ornamental grasses and Japanese maples after earning her horticulture degree from Central Piedmont Community College. That small business quickly expanded; today Patty specializes in landscape design/maintenance, project installation oversight and container gardening. Her first “plant loves” continue to appear in her designs – Patty often incorporates beautiful ornamental grasses and Japanese maples (some of which she grafted and raised a decade ago) in her client projects.
January 24, 2022
Scott McMahan – Plant Exploration with a Purpose
Manager of the International Plant Explorer Program of The Atlanta Botanical Garden
Bio:
Scott was the propagator for a large wholesale grower for 5 years as well as the nursery manager at the Atlanta Botanical Garden for several years before opening his first nursery. After many years in the nursery business, Scott returned to ABG and accepted his current position as the Manager of International Plant Exploration. Scott oversees plant collection and evaluation at ABG as well as the creation of a visiting scholar program to promote the exchange of knowledge and plants with other botanical institutions around the world. Since 2001, Scott has made more than 30 overseas scouting and collecting trips for ABG to China, Vietnam, India, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Bhutan and Mexico.
February 21, 2022
Teri Dunn Chace – Seeing Flowers – Discover the Hidden Life of Flower
An engrossing, narrated hour-long talk based on her best-selling Timber Press title of the same name. Learn why flowers look and behave the way they do, why certain plants are placed in certain families, how flowers attract pollinators and how pollination works. She also regales the audience with some amazing and entertaining stories from the era of plant hunters. Savor the breathtaking photographs by Robert Llewellyn (she will explain his “image-stacking” technique).
Bio:
With a broad range of expertise and interests, Teri has a taste for exploration and a talent for bringing backstories and information that resonate with insight and wonder—whether she’s examining flowers, pie, or small-town life.
She has over 35 books in publication, including the 2016 AHS award-winner Seeing Seeds. She’s also written and edited for major consumer gardening/outdoor-living publications (Horticulture, North American Gardener, Backyard Living, Birds and Blooms) and is presently the garden-and-nature columnist for the award-winning “Bottom Line Personal” newsletter.
Also an experienced copywriter, she’s written up products ranging from pet supplies to roses to outdoor-living products/furnishings to scented candles and soaps. Her copy for Jackson & Perkins gained the industry’s highest award, The Catalog Age Gold Award.
She has written and edited for the leading roadside-travel magazine and website, Roadside, on topics ranging from “Why Greeks and Diners?” to urban-planning issues to comfort-food recipes to iconic on-the-road books.
Raised in Santa Barbara, California and educated at Bard College in New York, she currently resides in a small village in the heart of central New York’s farm country; she and her husband also have a second home on a small island off the southwest coast of Nova Scotia.
The most intriguing job she’s ever held? Monitoring rare turtles for The Nature Conservancy. Or. . . raising teenage boys.
March 21, 2022
Matthew Borden, DPM, Plant Pathologist at Bartlett Tree Experts / Taking the Bite Out of Boxwood Blight
Manager of the International Plant Explorer Program of The Atlanta Botanical Garden
With a Doctorate of Plant Medicine from the University of Florida, Matthew has been with Bartlett Tree Experts since last spring focusing on landscape plant health initiatives and disease management. Since earning his Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from Virginia Tech in 2015, Matthew has packed a lot into his horticultural career. He’s a columnist for Fine Gardening magazine, worked in pest management at Longwood Gardens, was a beekeeper for 500 hives, and an orchard manager among other graduate and research assistant roles.
Read Matthew’s articles about Boxwood Blight in Fine Gardening:
https://www.finegardening.com/article/how-to-fight-boxwood-blight
https://www.finegardening.com/article/3-tell-tale-signs-of-boxwood-blight
April 11, 2022
J. Paul Moore, the Moss Man / Moore on Moss – Growing Moss as a Lawn Alternative or Garden Feature
Moss lawns and mosseries are on the forefront of traditional cut-grass alternatives, requiring far less care and zero chemicals to look uniquely stunning. Photographer and plantsman J. Paul Moore fell in love with moss years ago, and after a DIY “grass-to-moss” 5,000 sq. ft. lawn project in his Nashville yard he’s been an evangelist for this alternative to endless mowing and maintenance. His moss projects were recently featured in a Wall Street Journal article on substitutes for residential lawns. Paul – who owned a family garden center for 30 years – is now The Moss Man and works with clients in creating beautiful, magical mossy spaces (there are 12,000 varieties worldwide of this spore-bearing plant) throughout the Southeast.
Moss lawns are minimal carbon-footprint contributors PLUS absorb carbon better than trees, so they are “green” in more ways than one. Paul’s photographs, ideas and how-tos will make this a fun, fascinating evening – and we promise, our most “velvety soft” ever. Bonus: Mossin’ Annie – aka Annie Martin, author of “The Magical World of Moss Gardening” – will be here as well with MOSS TRAYS to purchase as well as copies of her book.
Read about Paul here:
https://agardeninprogress.com/j-paul-moore-moss-lawn/
Follow him on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/jpaulmoorephoto/
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